Evilswarm Kerykeion

June 10th, 2013

If you’ve Dueled at all in the past month, you know that Evilswarms are a force to be reckoned with. The main focus of most Evilswarm Decks is get Evilswarm Ophion into play and protect it, and they’ve got several ways to do it. First, they can use Evilswarm Castor for a free Normal Summon, getting two monsters into play. They can use Evilswarm Mandragora’s Special Summon to get two monsters as well. Next, Evilswarm Thunderbird can protect itself for a turn to Set up your Xyz Summon. And finally, Rescue Rabbit can Summon 2 copies of Evilswarm Heliotrope at once.

Notice a problem with any of that? Besides the Rabbit play, every one of those combos requires you to give up two monsters overall in order to get Ophion. The plays are quick, and they work, but they’re not quite as appealing as cards like Wind-Up Rat or Tour Guide From the Underworld.

But now you can get a Summoning discount with Evilswarm Kerykeion!

Evilswarm Kerykeion has three effects that make it incredibly useful. You can use each effect of Kerykeion once per turn.

-First, during the turn it’s sent to the Graveyard, you can Normal Summon one “lswarm” monster for one less Tribute. This effect is the one you’ll see used least, but it’s definitely useful in Steelswarm/Evilswarm hybrid Decks.

-For the next effect, you’ll need two “lswarm” monsters in your Graveyard. By banishing one, you can add the other to your hand! Doing that enables Kerykeion’s final ability as well. You use this while Kerykeion is on the field. Same with the next one.

-Finally, if you used the previous effect, Kerykeion enables you to Normal Summon a second “lswarm” this turn!

That means that not only does Kerykeion let you rush the field for an Xyz Summon like Castor and Mandragora, but it will actually supply the monsters to do it with! You can still make those same plays as before. Play Castor and Thunderbird together for Ophion and wreak havoc, but when Ophion falls, now you’ll have a backup plan. With Kerykeion alone, you can retrieve an Evilswarm and Summon it right away for another Ophion, or any other Rank 4 Xyz Monster.

Even better, use your same older combos in conjunction with Kerykeion! You can play either Castor or Mandragora first, then follow up with Kerykeion. Have it get back another Level 4 “lswarm” to your hand. You can make Evilswarm Bahamut, with a card primed in your hand to use with its effect; or you can Summon that monster for Evilswarm Ouroboros or any other three-material Xyz Monster!

Evilswarm Kerykeion takes everything Evilswarms already do, and make it so much better! You can find it in Lord of the Tachyon Galaxy.